No Longer a Death Sentence

Stigmatized: An Egyptian newspaper prints the full name of an HIV-positive person under the headline "Red-Handed." [Name has been rendered illegible by CRS] Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

"In the late 1990s, I would just give my patients counseling

and pray with them, because there was no treatment here," says Kozman. In

2003, Kozman brought two HIV-positive Egyptian men to an AIDS conference in

Kampala, Uganda. There, they met HIV-positive Sudanese men who had been alive

for a decade.

The Egyptian men wept, remembers Kozman. "They realized, 'This is not the end of my life.' " In 2004, antiretroviral drugs became more widely

available in Egypt.

For years, Caritas Egypt has offered medical care, run HIV support groups and helped people who run a higher risk of contracting HIV. Kozman is particularly worried

about sexually transmitted diseases among Egypt's many street children, who grow up in cities on their own. "Their lives are not so important for them, because no one cares about them," says Kozman. "We teach children that their lives

have value. Then we can teach them how to protect their lives and their

health."

Educating Teens

Teaching young people about AIDS is the goal of a new

Caritas program funded in part by Catholic Relief Services. Reaching hundreds

of Alexandria's teenagers, the program works with both Muslim and Christian

leaders to organize youth awareness activities in mosques and churches. The

teens—ages 14 to 18—design their own projects, like awareness fairs, mini-magazines and computer projects. Teens are also trained to talk to their peers, "making sure that positive messages on HIV are rolled out in the communities," says Radwa Rabie, program manager at CRS Egypt.